News Item6

奧巴馬政府在非洲地區(qū)面臨挑戰(zhàn)

News Background

新聞背景　　2009年11日，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧巴馬在加納議會(huì)發(fā)表了以“民主、良政、發(fā)展、和平”為主題的演講，此次演講勾勒出了美國(guó)對(duì)非政策的主要輪廓。在大約30分鐘的演講中，奧巴馬用近一半的時(shí)間闡述了“民主”、“良政”與非洲國(guó)家發(fā)展、繁榮的關(guān)系，同時(shí)他也批評(píng)一些非洲國(guó)家存在的極權(quán)統(tǒng)治和盛行的腐敗之風(fēng)。奧巴馬承諾，要通過(guò)增加對(duì)非援助和投資、為非洲國(guó)家創(chuàng)造更多貿(mào)易機(jī)會(huì)等辦法來(lái)幫助非洲國(guó)家實(shí)現(xiàn)發(fā)展。然而輿論指出，奧巴馬對(duì)非洲和平的承諾是有限的，美國(guó)政府至今未能在剛果（金）沖突等問(wèn)題上有所作為。非洲國(guó)家的發(fā)展并不能單純依靠外來(lái)援助來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)，況且美國(guó)能在多大程度上兌現(xiàn)其承諾還是疑問(wèn)。

News Transcript VOA 新聞梗概

A new report says the Obama administration faces key challenges in Africa this year,including poverty, climate change and HIV/AIDS.

Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, “The policy outlook is something we’veput out now for 10 years. What we try to do is give a sort of an honest look at what the followingyear will look like vis-à-vis U.S. foreign policy in Africa based on the trends that we’ve seen fromthe year previous.”

Poverty is the biggest challenge“We don’t like to discuss poverty that much because it’s kind of an indication that someof the free trade deregulation policies so favored by Western countries and Bretton WoodsInstitutions (World Bank, IMF) are in fact failing,” he says.

Climate ChangeThe report says another major challenge to Africa is climate change. And LeMelle is critical ofthe major powers for failing to take stronger action at the Copenhagen climate summit in December.

Listening Comprehension聽(tīng)力理解

1. 10 years; an honest look2. D 3. C Key(HIV/AIDS)The Africa Action report says HIV/AIDS will also remain a major problem,despite programs such as PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDSRelief. LeMelle says it’s responsible for an 18 percent decrease in AIDS-relateddeaths across Africa since 2004.

LeMelle says with the many problems facing the continent, “Africa deservesa more sophisticated approach than what has been afforded to its people.”

1 Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, “The policy outlook issomething we’ve put out now for . What we try todo is give a sort of at what the following year willlook like vis-à-vis U.S. foreign policy in Africa based on the trends that we’veseen from the year previous.”

2 A new report says the Obama administration faces key challenges in Africa thisyear, including ( )A. povertyB. climate changeC. HIV/AIDS.

D. All of the above.

3 Which statement of the following is not right? ( )A. Poverty is the biggest challenge.

B. LeMelle is critical of the major powers for failing to take stronger action atthe Copenhagen climate summit in December.

C. LeMelle says it’s responsible for an 18 percent decrease in AIDS-relateddeaths across Africa since 2008.

D. LeMelle says with the many problems facing the continent, “Africa deservesa more sophisticated approach than what has been afforded to its people.”

challenge n.

挑戰(zhàn)executive a.

行政的outlook n.

前景vis-à-vis prep.

關(guān)于deregulation n.

反常continent n.

洲，大陸deserve v.

應(yīng)得，應(yīng)受sophisticated a.

復(fù)雜的詞匯加油站一項(xiàng)新報(bào)告指出，今年，奧巴馬政府在對(duì)非政策上面臨關(guān)鍵挑戰(zhàn)，其中包括貧窮問(wèn)題，氣候變化問(wèn)題以及艾滋病問(wèn)題。

非洲行動(dòng)的執(zhí)行理事杰拉爾德??利梅里說(shuō)，“這個(gè)政策的目的就是，我們現(xiàn)在為今后十年的發(fā)展所作出的努力。我們努力做得就是，以一種實(shí)事求是的態(tài)度，來(lái)看待接下來(lái)的幾年將會(huì)是一個(gè)什么樣子，就像美國(guó)對(duì)非政策是基于我們前幾年的看到的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)。”

貧窮是最大的挑戰(zhàn)他說(shuō)：“我們不喜歡去過(guò)多談?wù)撠毟F，因?yàn)檫@是一種暗示，一些受西方國(guó)家和布雷頓森林體系（世界銀行、國(guó)際貨幣基金組織）青睞的自由撤銷對(duì)貿(mào)易管制規(guī)定的政策事實(shí)上失敗了?！?/p>

氣候變化問(wèn)題報(bào)告指出，非洲面臨的另一個(gè)重要挑戰(zhàn)是氣候變化問(wèn)題。在12月份的哥本哈根氣候會(huì)議上，利梅里對(duì)主要大國(guó)沒(méi)能采取更強(qiáng)有力的行動(dòng)提出了批評(píng)。

艾滋病問(wèn)題非洲行動(dòng)報(bào)告指出，艾滋病仍然是一個(gè)主要問(wèn)題，盡管有專門(mén)的項(xiàng)目——總統(tǒng)艾滋病緊急救援計(jì)劃。利梅里說(shuō)，這是2004年到現(xiàn)在，艾滋病引起的疾病死亡率已經(jīng)下降了18%的原因。

利梅里說(shuō)，由于這片大陸目前仍然存在許多問(wèn)題，“非洲應(yīng)該采用比以往人們所能承受的，更為復(fù)雜的方法”。

1 A new report says the Obama administration faces key challenges in Africa this year, includingpoverty, climate change and HIV/AIDS. 其中“the Obama ... HIV/AIDS.”做整個(gè)句子的賓語(yǔ)?！眎ncluding ... HIV/AIDS”是介詞短語(yǔ)補(bǔ)充說(shuō)明challenge。

2 “What we try to do is give a sort of an honest look at what the following year will look like vis-à-visU.S. foreign policy in Africa based on the trends that we’e seen from the year previous.”這個(gè)句子的主語(yǔ)是What we try to do，意思是“我們所要試著做的”。base on sth. 思是“建立在……的基礎(chǔ)上”。that we’e seen from the year previous.是定語(yǔ)從句，the trend是先行詞.

3 The Africa Action report says HIV/AIDS will also remain a major problem, despite programssuch as PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. 其中despite做介詞 用，意思是“不管, 盡管, 任憑”例如：Despite the fact that she is short, she is an excellent basketballplayer. 盡管她個(gè)子矮，卻是個(gè)出色的籃球運(yùn)動(dòng)員。整句話的意思是“非洲行動(dòng)報(bào)告指出，艾滋病病毒仍然是遺留的主要問(wèn)題，盡管有專門(mén)的項(xiàng)目——PEPFAR，這是總統(tǒng)為了艾滋病救治采取的緊急計(jì)劃?！?